Earthbytes

Food Sovereignty: our rights to a local, sustainable food system

I got an email link today about a little town in Maine that, in March of this year, unanimously adopted a local food and self-governance ordinance to preserve small-scale farming and food processing in their community. I also watched a video on food sovereignty (see below) and got supercharged by the words and the idea.

I was going to focus on blogging about the town until I found information at The Community Environmental Defense Fund (CELDF) website that clarified some of the details of the Sedgwick ordinance (94kb pdf) and several others being pursued in Hancock County at the same time.

CELDF had drafted a food bill of rights ordinance that could be used in Maine. The resolutions actually adopted by the towns in Hancock County, according to CELDF, did not go far enough:

CELDF’s rights based Food Bill of Rights protects local family farm corporations, provides for the humane treatment of livestock, prohibits trespass by Genetically Modified Organisms, mandates formula restaurants and grocery stores to carry food products raised on local farms, denies interference from permits issued to corporations that would violate the local law, denies interference from state or federal agents or agencies that is in violation of the rights of community members secured by the ordinance, and provides for the Rights of Nature.

The Hancock County ordinances, in contrast, are regulatory in nature, as they are narrowly framed on the issues of state regulations and inspections. These ordinances focus on exempting farmers and producers from state and federal food safety regulations when selling directly to end consumers. But the Hancock County ordinances do not address the fundamental problems that have pushed family farmers out of business, eliminated the farmer's relationship with the soil, and severed the connections between farmers and community members that are vital to the resilience of our local food systems.

 

 

According to CELDF, recognizing and asserting these rights is the first step to creating a local, sustainable food system. The need for such a system -- anchored in justice and fairness for all people -- reveals itself more clearly every day.

 

 

GMOs: It's not nice to fool (with) Mother Nature

I've always had an uneasy feeling about genetically modifed organisms (GMO). Early on this feeling was generated primarily, I think, at the level of intuition. But it also came out of experience and knowledge of other situations in which human beings took a chance meddling with nature only to have the experiment backfire.

The history of Earth -- from records accessible to all of us as well as those that remain hidden, for whatever reason -- is full of examples. But that's a story that would be longer in the telling. The truth of it, though, plays out on a thousand stages every day. If you look at these with a hawk's eye (keen on the details but seen from a distance), the patterns that connect them all begin to be revealed.

My interest in GMOs took a huge leap recently when I heard evolutionary biologist Bruce Lipton talking about new discoveries from genome science (genomics). In the discussion (and in his book, The Biology of Belief) Lipton said that while we have long believed that genes are only shared through reproduction, we now know that genes are shared among members of different species:

This sharing of information is not an accident. It is nature’s method of enhancing the survival of the biosphere. As discussed earlier, genes are physical memories of an organism’s learned experiences. The recently recognized exchange of genes among individuals disperses those memories, thereby influencing the survival of all organisms that make up the community of life. Now that we are aware of this inter- and intra-species gene transfer mechanism, the dangers of genetic engineering become apparent. For example, tinkering with the genes of a tomato may not stop at that tomato, but could alter the entire biosphere in ways that we cannot foresee.

There are many studies accessible online that document negative consequences of GMOs in agriculture and food supplies. As we cast about for ways to dodge results of our indiscretions with energy production and consumption, some are looking to biomass from GM corn and Eucalyptus trees to burn for power generation, sacrificing Mother Nature's choices for what grows where.

The video below -- GM Crops Farmer to Farmer -- brings out some of the downsides, especially those playing out in American agriculture. For me, this film by Michael Hart really tapped the roots of the Kansas farm kid inside me still. Hart, a conventional livestock family farmer who has been farming in Cornwall for nearly thirty years, has actively campaigned on behalf of family farmers for over fifteen years. Here he speaks to some American farmers about their experiences with GM crops:

 

 

This video clearly illuminates the fact that GMOs represent a huge environmental justice issue, not only for people but for other species and the Earth itself. And its impacts have spread like a global virus. Not only are companies like Monsanto -- with their paid lobbyists and bought-off politicians -- messing with my country, but they are imposing their exploitive, dangerous business on brothers and sisters around the world. The consequences of that are getting ugly, and may get a lot uglier before we can all stand together as citizens to put a stop to it.

I plan to write more about all of this in future posts, covering other downsides as well as significant resistance to GMOs that is springing up around the planet. In addition, there are significant ethical questions regarding hunger, poverty, and basic rights for people and the Earth itself.

For now, here's a couple of links that I hope will add to your outrage and fuel your willingness to take a stand at home, and stand in solidarity with others around the world who have been, might be or will be hurt by GMOs:

Monsanto and Gates Foundation Push GE Crops on Africa

Monsanto Out to Monopolize African Agriculture

How the World's Population Is Being Forced to Succumb to Genetically Modified Organisms

GE Trees, Cellulosic Biofuels, and Destruction of U.S. and Global Forests (pdf 939KB)

GM maize "has polluted rivers across the United States"

The Corporate Climate Coup (David Noble)

 

GMOs and Peru: The Debate Comes to a Head | Truthout

This is a long article with indepth coverage of an important issue.The problems with GMOs run from biolological and systemic to economic and ethical -- yet another example of impacts imposed by large multinational corporations on citizens and their communities.

The use of transgenic or genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is an increasingly prevalent practice throughout the world that has pitted complex policy issues against one another.  On one side of the debate is the ability of GMOs to feed the world’s increasingly large and diverse population and to allow developing countries to economically advance via transgenic crops.  The other side of the dispute focuses on the unknown health and environmental risks posed by GMOs, along with potential monopolistic practices in which large multinational corporations (MNCs) involve themselves.

via www.truth-out.org